> On Twitter (or X), NPR Morning Edition host Steve Inskeep promised a diversity of viewpoints on the morning after the Trump trial verdict. It turned out Hugh Hewitt (and four lefties) were interviewed. Four to one is "diversity." It's better than nothing, and one leftist responded by tweet-screeching that "overt fascist" Hewitt was allowed to "lie with impunity" by Inskeep.
The most laughable part of NPR is when it starts breaking out its analysis of Fox News, as they did after the verdict, and of course they turned to the network’s resident Fox flogger, David Folkenflik.On Friday night's All Things Considered and again on Sunday morning on Weekend Edition -- he said Fox "stacked the deck" and created a "30-mile buffer for Trump." Fox treats Trump vs. Democrats as Good vs. Evil.
FOLKENFLIK: You know, with few exceptions in conservative media - think of the Daily Wire, Federalist, Breitbart, Gateway Pundit - you know, this insulates Trump from having to grapple among his base or people who are leaning conservative with revelations of the trial and repercussions of the verdict - little sense that Trump has agency here. They're told to see him as a victim of political persecution. They hear his fight is their own fight. You know that old Fox slogan - we report, you decide? It's MIA, missing in action, here.
These people lack any introspection. As if NPR is we report, you decide? NPR isn’t putting a buffer around its listeners? NPR doesn’t present left vs. right as good vs. evil? As if NPR doesn’t suggest they represent Democracy, and the Republicans are Autocracy? Well, Autocracy begins with not letting your opponents speak, and NPR specializes in not letting opponents speak much.
On Tuesday's All Things Considered, for example, they refused to consider Republicans speaking on taxpayer-funded airwaves on Biden's new border policy or the Merrick Garland hearing. The Garland story only quoted Garland touting his own integrity. The Biden story had Biden and a Democrat pollster! Reporter Franco Ordonez was asked to describe what the Trump campaign said, but then he placated his audience by adding "That said, these are some of the toughest measures by a Democratic administration."
On Sunday, it was more of the same with Folkenflik. This verdict was a "sober moment," a "moment for reflection," and conservatives flunked. Fox offered "an embrace of an us versus them rhetoric, no desire to have her audience wrestle with the implications of this, that Trump's own actions may have put him and landed him in this position."
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